100 Capt. Bayfield's Notes on 



iron, appear to be rare : native copper, associated with epidote, was met with 

 by Lieut. Colhns in only one instance, about five leagues eastward of St. 

 Genevieve, and in very small quantity : schorl and traces of iridescent or 

 Labrador felspar were observed in the same locality : and hypersthene, or 

 Labrador hornblende, was often noticed. I sometimes imagined, that I could 

 perceive an imperfect stratification in these granitic rocks, but it may have 

 been the result of structure, and upon the whole I regard them as unstratified. 

 They are traversed occasionally by trap veins, insignificant in size, when 

 compared with the immense dykes of the Lake Superior granites, which 

 appear to have poured forth such extensive beds of greenstone and amygda- 

 loid, an operation which probably took place under the ocean, from the 

 frequent association of beds of rolled masses of porphyry, cemented by a 

 paste of the same material as those igneous rocks. 



Six rivers of considerable magnitude, besides smaller streams, enter the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence between St. Genevieve and Cape Whittle, namely the Nabe- 

 sippe, Aqwanus, Natashcjuan, Mushquarro, La Romaine, and Coacoatcho, 

 and are respectively distant from St. Genevieve 33, 38, 50, 79, 97, and 110 

 miles. They are all unnavigable in consequence of shallows or rapids, com- 

 mencing a short distance within their entrances. The Natashquan, which 

 flows into the gulf directly opposite the east end of the Island of Anti- 

 costi, is the largest, and is remarkable for the great quantity of sand which it 

 discharges into the sea ; and its wide bed, like that of the Moisic, is full of 

 sand-banks. Its mouth is on the west side, and near the southern extremity 

 of an alluvial promontory, the materials of which it appears to have brought 

 down during the course of ages. 



This alluvial accumulation, formed evidently by the combined action of 

 the river, tides, winds, and waves, is the most extensive which we have seen 

 on the north coast of the St. Lawrence below Quebec, unless that of the 

 River Moisic be equally so. Its area is forty-eight square miles, and it has 

 completely covered the low granitic islets and rocks. Thus, it has not only 

 interrupted the direction, but also completely changed the character of the 

 coast for the distance of twenty miles, substituting cliffs of sand, or sandy 

 clay, with a fine sandy beach in front, for innumerable islets, rocks, and 

 reefs. 



11. To the southward of the Mingan islands and along the coast of La- 

 brador, as far east as we have yet examined, are extensive banks having from 

 twenty to forty fathoms of water, and composed of gravel, sand, and immense 

 quantities of broken shells. In sounding over many hundreds of square miles, 

 fragments of shells, and occasionally of coral, were brought up, by almost 



